Ashok Bhan, J., President—In this batch of cases (Revision Petitions and the Original Petitions) a two Members Bench has referred the following question of law to a larger Bench for consideration and opinion:-

“ Whether the consumer fora constituted under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 are bound to refer the dispute raised in the complaint, once an application under section 8 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, is filed by the opposite parties seeking reference of the dispute to an Arbitral Tribunal in terms of valid arbitration agreement, despite the provisions of Section 3 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986. “

2. For the sake of brevity, we do not wish to recapitulate the facts of each case. The facts are taken from Revision Petition No. 412 of 2013.

3. The parties are being referred as per their original status as the Complainant and the Opposite Party.

FACTS:-

4. Complainant booked a flat No.810 with two parking spaces with the Opposite Party DLF Ltd. in its building project at The Aralias, Gurgaon and an Apartment Buyer’s Agreement was executed between the parties on 5.11.04. The apartment was sold by the opposite party to the Complainant on bare shell con